Dead Poets Society Lesson Plan

There is a scene near the beginning of the movie which is Keating asking all of his students to tear out the introduction in the poetry textbook which contains the preface “Understanding Poetry”. He asks his students to do so because he wants them to have their own thoughts. He wants them to analyze poetry with their own heart. From this we can know that poetry is something that cannot be judged by a set of traditional methods. Poetry is the true feeling that comes from the interior world of the author’s heart. It’s a kind of expression of emotion. Only with heart, you can feel the real beauty of it. You can feel its endless glamour. On the other hand, poetry is also what we stay a live for. Keating says this to the boys in the movie. According to Keating’s words, though many things like medicine, business, economic or engineering can keep our lives going on well normally. They are not enough. We still need something for our inner world and only things like poetry can satisfied our request. It gives us the chance to enjoy the beauty in our world. It helps us learn the true essence of our life.


In the film, poetry is something that gives people enjoyment. People can get rid of the endless hard work and other thing bothering them in their lives by reading poetry. They can put their feelings into their reading. In this way, they can relax themselves. This is similar to my opinion of the role poetry plays in our daily life. I think poetry is a really necessary object in our life. It is a tool for people to express their feelings. Sometimes when people can’t left off their emotions, they write poetry. And through poetry, maybe people can understand the author better. It’s a easier way. For example, in the movie, there is a short poetry about seizing the day. It says “the same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying”. There is a simile in the poetry. It uses the example of flowers to tell the readers that cherishing time is really important because your life will pass really quickly. Readers can comprehend this much better than if you only tells them directly that you should cherish your life. It’s more vivid and gives people more clear impress. So besides what the film says about poetry, I think poetry is also sometimes a good teacher to us. We can learn a lot by reading it. It makes our soul clean. It makes our heart calm. It helps to make the civilization develop. To me, poetry is a symbol of elegance and romantic. It has already become a part of our daily life.